Social media is powerful. In 2009, Eric Qualman of Socialnomics released a video called Social Media Revolution that dramatically showed the way social media is revolutionizing the way we spend time online, search for and share information, and do business. The 2011 updated video demonstrates that social media is now more pervasive in our personal and professional lives than ever.

Since that time, the “Social Media is a Fad” debate has faded to the background. It’s become clear that we’re experiencing a shift in the way we communicate. And it’s essential that individuals and organizations don’t get left behind in the social media revolution.

It’s amazing how fast social media changes. Every day. It’s one thing to have a Facebook account or search for YouTube videos, but it’s another thing entirely to understand how to use social media to communicate effectively.

Why is it so important? To give you an idea of the size and scope of social media’s impact on communication, we’ve compiled a list of important social media stats. At Verve’s Social Media Bootcamp, we’ll do more than wow you with statistics, we’ll show you how to use social media effectively to meet the goals of your organization.

10 Surprising Social Media Stats

1. Social media accounts for one out of every six minutes spent online in US. (Journalism.co.uk)
2. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
3. 95% of companies are using LinkedIN to search for job applicants
4. There are 200,000,000 blogs in existence today
5. AOL’s newsroom is now bigger than The New York Times’ (Business Insider)
6. Users say they’re more likely to buy if a business answers their questions on Twitter (NYTimes.com)
7. Twitter reported that the network saw more than 4,000 tweets per second at the beginning and end of Obama’s speech [re: death of Osama Bin Laden] (AllTwitter)
8. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
9. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
10. Social media advertising spending will increase from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion by 2015.” (BIA/Kelsey via Direct Marketing News)